Entries in remakes
(89)

Disney's The Lion King is getting the live-action treatment and previews for it have already shown great promise. Disney has now revealed the list of stars that will voice your most cherised prepubescent traumas. Standouts include James Earl Jones as Mufasa (he also voiced the original in 1994), Chiwetel Ejiofor as maybe-gay uncle Jafar, and budding singer/song-reader Beyoncé Knowles-Carter. The voices of the new King features great diversity that we hope is indicative of the crew behind-the-scenes.

You may have heard that plans are afoot (again) to bring Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard musical to the big screen. It will be a Paramount Pictures production. For giggles, I was attempting to find an old article from the last time rumors spread that Glenn Close was going to transfer her Tony success to the big screen and republish it nearly intact "As If We Never Said Goodbye" to this rumor (haha. I'm here all week.) Alas, the article hid itself though I remember writing it. But what year to even search for such a thing? This rumor is perennial...

The saga of Disney's live-action Aladdin casting is still underway. The new Jafar will be Dutch actor Marwan Kenzari. This is noteworthy because he's the first live-action version of a cartoon character who is hotter than the cartoon character. It's also worth noting that if he's great in the role this could be quite an international breakthrough. He speaks four languages (Arabic, French, Dutch, and English) which you can hear some of in his most acclaimed role in Wolf (2013) so imagine how many country's cinemas could use him!

He's mostly made Dutch films to date but he was recently onscreen in three epic English language flops Ben-Hur,The Promise, and The Mummy. Next up he's playing the French train conductor in the Murder on the Orient Express remake then the lead in a true story thriller about Ashraf Marwan. After those two films, he'll be tormenting Aladdin and Jasmine!

In short: big career ahead. After the jump more pictures (some NSFW) of the new Jafar...

Will Smith has been booked as the genie for a fair bit but now Disney is really revving up for their live action remake of Aladdin, casting both their "Street Rat! Scoundrel!" and future prince in Mena Massoud (pictured above), and their Princess Jasmine in Naomi Scott, who just played the pink ranger in the film version of Power Rangers...

Robert here! Remember a few months ago when we all learned that Jack Nicholson was making a long-awaited return to the silver screen to star with Kristen Wiig in an American remake of bonkers German comedy Toni Erdmann? No, no, it was not a St. Elsewhere style coma dream. That possibly brilliant, possibly ill-advised project is still well underway, and there has been a new development: universally beloved and totally uncontroversial creator, writer, director, and star of HBO's Girls Lena Dunham and her co-writer Jenni Konner are in talks to pen the script. More after the jump...